Many authentication systems, such as Novell, Inc.'s Modular Authentication Service (NMAS), provide varying levels of strong authentication. NMAS, for instance, can authenticate users using biometrics (e.g., fingerprint, retina scan, etc.), tokens (one-time passwords, smart cards), and passwords. Security sensitive applications or resources, such as corporate financial information, personal and personnel information, military secrets, nuclear technology, banking activity, securities trading, health/patient records, etc., use these authentication services to prevent unauthorized users from gaining access. However, it presently exists that these applications/resources are unable to prove, after-the-fact, that access was indeed granted to proper users, after proper authentication, or that proper users were granted access when it is argued that other parties had improper access and it is the other parties that committed malicious acts, damage, or otherwise simply had access or exposure to sensitive information.
To this end, security-sensitive applications/resources have need to verify or prove that a particularly strong sequence of authentication methods was, in fact, executed prior to granting access to a particular party and that party only. In that many computing configurations already have strong authentication services, it is further desirable to leverage existing configurations by way of retrofit technology, thereby avoiding the costs of providing wholly new products. Taking advantage of existing frameworks, such as NMAS, is another feature that optimizes existing resources. Any improvements along such lines should further contemplate good engineering practices, such as relative inexpensiveness, stability, ease of implementation, high security, low complexity, flexibility, etc.